Hi guys got about a grand to spend on my celica and instead of blowing it on power mods I want my car to handle a bit better. What modifications do you all recommend and in what order. Currently all I have is red stuff brake pads (shite btw) and a whiteline adjustable rear arb. Also while wer at it does anyway else have the adjustable arb? What setting should I have it on?
Thanks

Bc coilovers

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ST205

I have my whiteline bar on the middle setting. As for what setting you should - try them all and see which one you like most. When the car was my daily driver I had it on its softest setting.

Assuming your superstrut is all in good condition. I'd go with some BC coilovers and some decent tyres.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Hi,

with oem suspension -> uprated swaybars esspecially on the rear

and what insanity said

greetz

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KEEP COOL UNDER PRESSURE

street legal?.....perhaps in tschibuti

Am i the only one who hasnt got coilovers yet?? haha I have adjustable rear Arb, polybushings but i am now heading into upgrading the shocks and springs.. im going uprated shocks and springs but coilovers would prob be your best bet at this stage as the others say more adjustment, I`d suggest doing some research into the spring ratings you want first

I ran adjustable dampers and springs for a long time with good results. I had two main reasons for switching to coilovers. 1) a set of TEIN's came up in very good condition and the adjustable conventional dampers don't seem to be widely available anymore.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Are the bc coilovers awkward to build? I heard you had to cut a bit off your own strut and weld it together? I could do this at work I just wondered if it was worth the hassle. What are the main parts worth poly bushing so I know what ones to buy. Il figure out how to put them on and where they go as I go along I usually manage lol.
I do still need to replace my lower control arms and il be doing that soon as my not is coming up.
Thanks for all the help so far

Another option would be KYB 4-point adjustable struts and TRD springs if you don't fancy the hassle of the BC's. I've never tried them so can't really comment. The KYB's are a good half-way house which is less extreme than coilovers if you use your Four as a daily driver. If you haven't already fitted a front cross-brace that certainly reduces chassis flex and improves steering 'feel'. TRD front discs and pads are also good and I find running 18" wheels improves the steering responsiveness and turn-in.

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Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Most if not all joints have spherical bushes which have zero flex in the required direction. Changing these to poly is a common mistake that makes things more sloppy.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

When I replaced my rear setup wit the poly I retained the spherical bearings in my setup, a bushing a bearing are different, have you personally drove a st205 with these bushings replaced with poly? Be interesting to get another opinion? Most people if spoke to have no direct experience wit this, iv spoke to 3 who have and they all gave positive feedback using poly bushing, one lad drove 2 st205s on a track backstop back one with these bushings replaced and one without... And he couldn't find any difference, but this could be down to driver perspective and other mods..

I personally will be keeping the bearing, can't see any benefit to replacing it, that is one benefit of the McPherson conversion adjustable inserts are more common.

What toe alignment are people using?

With the bushes I have replaced for poly (all except the 2 outer hub each side) It certainly feels better than it did, but wether it would be even better with new OEM bushes I don't know. My feeling is that the improvement if any would be negligible.

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GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

A spherical bush has zero movement in the direction it is required to be stiff, so a poly cannot 'stiffen up' this.

It is effectively one of these:



Built into a tube



And rubber seals on the ends




Overall, they look very similar to a 'void bush' which is essentially a small centre metal tube inside a larger outer metal tube and filled with rubber (or poly) in between.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

The 2 bushes in the rear hubs are definately spherical as standard. I can't see the inner ones in the arms that go onto the subframe but I have a feeling they are also spherical. Any significant 'give' in these arms would result in fairly large wheel direction changes which could lead to some interesting rear wheel steer effects.

The only joint in the front which may just be a void bush to uprate is the bottom arm inner. I don't have any arms lying about to check.
The void bush in the banana arm (tie bar) needs to flex in order to allow suspension travel. Forward / backward movement here will only have second order effects on handling anyway as the effect on wheel direction is minimal. If you really want to uprate this, try to find a spherical bushing that will fit as this will allow suspension travel without the forward / backward movement. Alternatively machine the end of the arm to take a rose joint (if it's possible).

The void bushes that will definately improve rear end soggyness are the ones that mount the rear subframe to the body.

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If at first you don't suck seed, try drier grain.

I think the inner arms are ordinary bushings, the 2 spherical ones are in the hub if I remember correctly, your explanations are better than any attempt I could do, it's what my thoughts are too that replacing the spherical with a Bush would be a down grade. I was wondering about the poly droplinks too I imagine they would have a good bit of ahigher rate of wear over the standard type nut would have a similar effect of a increased roll bar?

Hmmmm the idea of poly bushing has got more complicated all of a sudden most people just say do it. I think I will go with coiloverrs for now